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Whiskey in Wilderness reveals date, lineup of Las Vegas chefs

Tickets will go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. for the third installment of Whiskey in the Wilderness, the food and whiskey event that takes some of Las Vegas’ top chefs out of the kitchen and into the great outdoors. This year’s open-fire foodfest will be held on March 3, returning to the site of last year’s festivities, Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.

“People seemed pretty happy with the layout and how easy a drive it was.” says Justin Kingsley Hall, chef at The Kitchen at Atomic and co-creator of Whiskey in the Wilderness. “And luckily we didn’t do too much damage to the state park, so they wanted us back.”

This year’s lineup includes several returning chefs as well as some newcomers to the event. They include Brian Howard of Sparrow + Wolf, Khai Vu of Mordeo Boutique Wine Bar, Roy Ellamar of Harvest, Jennifer Murphy of Hell’s Kitchen, Shaun King of Momofuku Las Vegas, Chris Decker of Metro Pizza, Gary FX LaMorte of Honest Hospitality, John Courtney of Block 16, Oscar Amador of EDO Gastro Tapas & Wine, Dan Krohmer of Other Mama, Bobby Silva of Hatsumi and Johnny Church.

Described as a “primal culinary experience,” the unifying theme will once again be open-fire cooking washed down with whiskey. But Hall promises more varied cuisine this time around.

“Some people were super-excited and wanted to come. But when they heard the idea of fire and whiskey, they’d only think beef. So we’re trying to focus on (more than) that.”

As part of that focus, Hall will be making a vegetarian dish and is promising some seafood from the other chefs. There will also be caviar from Forte Tapas and cheese and charcuterie provided by Cured & Whey. As for the whiskey, he’s planning to make that aspect of the day educational as well as intoxicating, with seminars on the spirit and a flight tasting by Cody Fredrickson of Scotch 80 Prime.

Tickets, which include all food and beverages, are $135 in advance and $155 the day of the event, and will be available through secretburger.com.